Birding California and beyond with Gary Nunn

Main menu

Category Archives: Gulls

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2014] – This first cycle Mew Gull Larus canus brachyrhynchus surprised me at Pt. La Jolla this afternoon when it suddenly appeared coming around the point. The misty conditions made photography problematic and I was impressed with the performance of my new Canon 1Dx camera body. The full frame sensor of the 1Dx, paired with the 500 mm f4.0 and 2X teleconverter, admirably pulled off this image acquisition at the 1000 mm effective focal length in spite of poor light and the considerable distance.

This first cycle Mew Gull has molted into some first prealternate plumage revealing newer white feathers about the flanks and chest as well as a light gray mantle. Some juvenile feathers remain, for example the brown feathers of the belly as well as the faded and mismatched looking upperwing coverts. I find the easiest way to tell this species from Ring-billed Gull, potentially confused with Mew Gull at this age and plumage, by the bill shape. Mew Gull has a thinner bill with a more shallow curvature to the culmen tip providing a more gentle looking bill. Ring-billed Gull on the other hand is deeper billed with a strongly decurved culmen tip which contributes to its more aggressive and substantial looking head morphology. The dusky underwing, particularly darkish around the axillaries, and brownish “scarf” around the neck are also characteristically good field marks for an immature Mew Gull.

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – It was barely getting light this morning when I spotted a small white-bellied duck careening wildly along the edge of the kelp beds at Pt. La Jolla. It looked interesting so I leveled the camera on it and snagged a dozen shots as the duck pulled up and stalled to sit down on the water outside of the kelp. It was 7:01 a.m. to be exact and my Canon 7D camera sensor was having trouble capturing images at all, even at ISO 3200! From the camera back the duck appeared white collared and distinctively white bellied. It also had a dark crown and cheek patch kind of extending as a rear strap behind the face. Finally, the wings were entirely blackish both on the upper and under surface, in particular the striking dark underwing coverts were noticeable. Evidently my hoped for Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis had appeared as early in the day as possible! I guess I should not complain about poor lighting for photography, birds just come by you when they want to as a rule! This is my first Long-tailed Duck of the 2013-2014 winter period. Unfortunately, given the very choppy water conditions and poor lighting, other birders were unable to relocate the stationary duck in the immediate vicinity with their field scopes.

Buoyed by the early morning success I waited out the seawatch a few more hours but could only add a very nice looking adult basic plumaged Mew Gull Larus canus to the list. The Mew Gull flew south around the point just a short distance from the rocks and almost escaped attention. Actually this individual appears to be in fresh looking “adultlike” plumage having completed third cycle prebasic molt with just a few black feathers in the upperwing marginal coverts and slightly reduced white tips to the outer primaries.

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I first spotted this Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla from quite a distance away standing by itself in the San Diego River flood control channel due south of Seaworld, San Diego. I quickly skirted around the bird and crossed W Mission Bay Drive Bridge, to get a better look. But after a couple photographs it vanished into thin air when a Red-tailed Hawk spooked the nearby Caspian Tern flock. A little while later I spotted it circling at high elevation with a flock of California Gulls. Then it dropped quickly into the east end of the channel, where I followed after it in vain, just when I ran over there the gulls flushed again! I finally found it back where it began, near the bridge, where I obtained some nice photographs of it standing in shallow water on the mudflat – quite the runaround!

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

It appears to be a first summer individual with a black tail and faded primaries and greater coverts on the upperwing. There is just a small dark coloration showing on the head, not really hooded at all, which extends mostly back from the eye joining at the rear crown. The bill is dark and heavy, typical for this species. The legs are also dark and long, giving the bird an overall tall, long-winged, and skinny appearance when seen standing. In flight the long wings and very buoyant flight are also characteristic. In addition to the size and structural features, the grey wash on the chest sides separates this species from Franklin’s Gull which is boldly white in these areas.

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

Laughing Gull – San Diego River flood control channel, 30 March 2013

In spite of seasonally large numbers to our east, at the Salton Sea, the Laughing Gull is very rare in San Diego County found here only once or twice per year. Long staying individuals have occurred in the past along the San Diego River flood control channel and in Mission Bay. So hopefully this bird will stick around for a while for more people to enjoy!

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – There seems to be a deficiency of interesting gulls this winter along the coast of San Diego County. So when I spotted a large pale gull near the entry causeway to Fiesta Island, Mission Bay I quickly investigated! The gull was quite difficult to approach until a jetski passed nearby and happened to kill a fish just beneath the water surface. The floating fish body parts came alongside the shoreline and soon attracted this large-in-size second-cycle Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens into photographic range. It aggressively chased off nearby Western Gulls and soon had the fish remains to itself while dominantly guarding the area near the shore.

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

This gull is chesty and short bodied looking, typical for this species, with wings at rest hardly much longer than the tail by only a few primary feather tips. The off-center, forward-weighted look is quite prominent when it swims and even quite odd looking when seen from the side alighting. Several views also show well the broad width of the wings, in particular the secondaries, that help create the skirted looking effect known well in this species. Although the legs are quite dark looking there is an underlying pink color becoming evident.

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

Glaucous-winged Gull second-cycle, Mission Bay, San Diego 17 Feb 2013

This gull has a nice looking dark cappucino-brown colored iris, but the dark greyish eyering appears to have no other notable coloration developed so far as I could discern from the photographs. The strong looking dark bill has quite a pronounced gonydeal angle with some pale coloration at the base of both the upper and lower mandible (patchy). It also has a fine light-colored tip to the upper mandible.

I took these photographs of an adult basic (winter) plumage “Olympic Gull” (Glaucous-winged Gull x Western Gull) back on December 13, 2011 while visiting Lindo Lake in Lakeside. I had just started walking around the perimeter path of the lakes when suddenly I noticed a large light grey colored gull flying in my direction! I only managed to get a flight shot as it was flying away. It made a bee-line over to the floating wooden raft, in the duck-feeding area of the lake, so I ran around the west lake as quickly as possible to investigate.

One of the most noticeable features of this gull is the coloration of primary feathers which fade from the grey of the upper-wing to the black of the primary tip – very unusual. This individual shows other characters typical of this hybrid parentage including a heavy bill morphology, angular shaped head, darker flecking of the head feathers, an intermediate grey (between Glaucous-winged and Western Gull) colored mantle and upper-wing, and a bulky looking skirt of secondary and tertial feathers.

Whether this is a first-cross between the parental species, or some degree of back-cross of a hybrid with one parental species is unknown. I suppose with the large frequency of hybrids reported in the zone of hybridization anything along the spectrum from Glaucous-winged to Western Gull could possibly be found. This individual does match well to examples of adult basic (winter) plumage “Olympic Gull” that I could find on the internet. The eye-ring appears a rich yellow while the iris is greyish-yellow (brown?) with tiny darker flecking present – these characters seem more in line with Western Gull than Glaucous-winged Gull. The published literature however does make reference to intergrade individuals potentially having eye-ring and iris color matching either parental species.

Hybrid Glaucous-winged x Western Gull are uncommon in winter in San Diego County although some good gull spots attract a handful of birds which are invariably first-cycle individuals. I guess there could be some reporting bias if second-cycle birds are more confusing to observers. Reports of adults seem non-existent however, I checked through the SDBIRDS archive but could not find any previous records of adult “Olympic Gull” in San Diego County in the winter months.

Murrelets, Albatrosses, Storm-Petrels – Pelagic Birding from San Diego. For a list of upcoming boat trips go to SoCalBirding.com

Welcome to San Diego Birding!

There are plenty of reasons to go birding in San Diego - it's America's birdiest county! Here on my blog you will find posts about local rarities, near endemics, and some of my global birding adventures.

Need help finding birds in Southern California? Send an email to Gary Nunn at San Diego Birding

Archives by Category

Archives by Month

New San Diego County Birds

#517Blue-throated Hummingbird– First observed by Jim Billups on 13 July 2014 on Palomar Mountain. The report appeared end of October 2014.#516Neotropic Cormorant– Found by Theresa Hyde on 12 Oct 2014 on Camp Pendleton.#515Wedge-tailed Shearwater– First observed by Stan Walens and then photographed by Gary Nunn on 13 Sep 2013 at Point La Jolla, La Jolla.#514LeConte's Sparrow– Found and photographed by Terry Hunefeld on 25 Oct 2013 in Borrego Springs.#513Great Shearwater– Discovered by Paul Lehman and photographed from SoCalBirding pelagic 14.3 NM west of Point Loma on 14 Oct 2013.#512Scaly-breasted Munia– Introduced Asian estrildine finch species added to the California List and ABA List Sep 2013.#511Bell's Sparrow– Addition of this California near endemic previously considered a subspecies of Sage Sparrow (AOU, 54th supp., Jul 2013).#510Lesser Sand-Plover– South San Diego Bay, Imperial Beach, 19 Jul 2013. Discovered by Matt Sadowski in the South Bay Salt Works. #509White Wagtail– Chula Vista, 10 Feb 2013. Discovered and photographed by Matt Sadowski along Bay Blvd in Chula Vista.#508Great-winged Petrel– Point La Jolla seawatch, 18 Dec 2012. Discovered and photographed by Gary Nunn. The 6th record for California and the ABA area.#507Wood Sandpiper– Camp Pendleton, 24 Sep 2012. Discovered by Brennan Mulrooney. Only the second record for California.#506Guadalupe Murrelet– Addition of this small alcid species previously considered a subspecies of Xantus’s Murrelet (AOU, 53rd supp., Jul 2012).#505Common Redpoll– Julian, 04 Feb 2012. Discovered by Mike Goldhammer and seen by many observers.#504Black Vulture– Escondido, 06 Mar 2011. Found by Trent Stanley and Eric Kallen, the sole observers.#503Winter Wren– Point Loma, 03 Nov 2010. Found and identified by Paul Lehman with additional recorded vocalizations.#502Little Stint– San Diego Bay, 31 Aug 2010. Discovered by Matt Sadowski after careful evaluation of his photographs.#501Eastern Whip-poor-will– Point Loma, 14 Nov 1970. Addition of this eastern species previously considered a form of Whip-poor-will (AOU, 51st supplement, Jul 2010).#500Snow Bunting– Ocean Beach, 30 Apr 2009. Discovered by Jim Pea at Robb Field. One of the most unexpected rarities in recent years.#499Red-necked Stint– San Diego Bay, 23 Jul 2008. Found and identified by Matt Sadowski.#498Bridled Tern– Santa Margarita River mouth, 14 Aug 2007. First seen by Brian Foster.#497Newell's Shearwater– Del Mar, 01 Aug 2007. Found by a construction worker and taken to Project Wildlife where it later died. The first and only record in California and the ABA area.Compiled with Guy McCaskie, CBRC Secretary and San Diego County birder.